Nadhmi Al-Nasr and Jim Luyten (right) celebrate the signing of the joint research agreement between WHOI and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and WHOI Finalize Research Collaboration

Partnership Will Foster Research Along Saudi Arabia Coast in Northern Central Red Sea

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a new
world-class, graduate-level scientific research university now under
development, finalized an agreement today with Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI) to collaborate on marine research projects in the Red Sea.

KAUST, which is located along the shores of the Red Sea, is working with
WHOI scientists to establish the KAUST Marine and Ocean
Research Center,
which will provide critical information about ocean ecosystems, fisheries, and
water circulation along the Saudi Arabian coast in the northern central Red Sea. One of the first projects will be an assessment
of the health of the extensive and vital coral reefs in the region and identification
of the environmental factors affecting the system.

“This partnership will establish a firm foundation of excellence for
KAUST that will help us recruit other scientists and promote our ultimate
agenda of scientific discovery,” KAUST’s Interim President Nadhmi Al-Nasr said
at today’s signing of the formal agreement between KAUST and WHOI (which
announced their intent to collaborate earlier this year). “It will also enrich
WHOI’s already prestigious portfolio of scholarship and its reputation as an
institution with a reach that extends literally all over the globe.”

“The KAUST-WHOI partnership will bring together a large,
interdisciplinary group of researchers, each with their own strengths and
experiences,” said Dr. James R. Luyten, acting president and director of WHOI. “With
this collaboration, we can bring together different tools, techniques, and
minds to gain a broader understanding of the Red Sea
and its ecosystems. We are proud and excited to be part of this project.”

The multi-year agreement will include three major lines of collaborative
research, including:

 a
three-year fisheries and aquaculture project that will produce an integrated
bioeconomic model of the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, describing the
dynamic relationships among fish stocks and the fisheries that harvest them;

 a
coastal hydrography and circulation project that will provide the first
comprehensive description of the physical oceanography in the Red
Sea;

 studies
of coral reef ecology that offer a baseline for long-term monitoring of the
coastal environment.

In addition to WHOI, KAUST has also signed memoranda of understanding
(MOU) to create similar partnerships with the Institut Français du Pétrole in France, the National University of Singapore,
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and
American University
in Cairo.

“Collaboration is necessary not just for the institutional development
of KAUST,” Al-Nasr added. “It is also critical to the advancement of science.
As we have learned, it is the way science is practiced in the 21st century.”

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is being built in
Saudi Arabia as an international, graduate-level research university dedicated
to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom, the region and
around the globe. As an independent, merit-based institution, KAUST will employ
many of the best practices from leading research universities and enable top
researchers from around the globe and across all cultures to work together to
solve challenging scientific and technological issues. The KAUST global
research and education network will support diverse talents, both on its campus
and at other premier universities and research institutions, through
collaborative research agreements, grants, and student scholarship programs.
The core campus, located on more than 36 million square meters on the Red Sea at Thuwal, is set to open in September 2009.

The
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, independent organization in Falmouth, Massachusetts,
USA, dedicated
to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in
1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary
mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a
whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the
changing global environment.

Originally published: October 22, 2007

WHOI is the world's leading non-profit oceanographic research organization. Our mission is to explore and understand the ocean and to educate scientists, students, decision-makers, and the public.